Who will you be in ’23?

  • Published
  • By Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Michael Doan
  • 182nd Airlift Wing Chaplain Corps

Who are you in ’22? Who will you be in ’23?

You’ve probably heard it said that “the only constant is change.” God is the only One who never changes. The rest of us change, for one reason or another.

There are two kinds of personal change: Change that happens to you and change that happens because of you. Much change has happened to you since starting this present decade. Remember “you” at the start of the New Year in 2020? You were a different person back then—before masking, social distancing, vaccine mandates. Different ways of thinking and behaving have happened to you. New ways of functioning have been forced into your world.

I wonder what personal change occurred in you because of you. Pressure makes coal into diamonds, hot air into cool breezes, and quitters into survivors. The experiences of the past two years have been too difficult and too trying to have wasted them with only learning new things to complain about.

In this year ahead, more change can be made because of you than what happens to you – it’s up to you. Use ’22 for a new you—more effective, more resilient, more kind, more generous. There have been many things we couldn’t do in the past two years. People who focused on what they could do, and what they were determined to do, are the people who made positive change happen for them rather than letting change happen to them. There are magnificent growth opportunities headed your way this year! It’s exciting to think about what positive growth changes you’ll make happen.